Method and apparatus for producing air-cooled carbon-coated paper



April 9, 1963 H. w. HUFFMAN 3,084,449

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING AIR-COOLED CARBON-COATED PAPER Filed April 3, 1958 Paper M812 United States Patent-O 3,084,449 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING AIR-COOLED CARBON-COATED PAPER Harold W. Hulfman, Fairfield, Ohio, assignor to The Hamilton Tool Company, Hamilton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Apr. 3, 1958, Ser. No. 726,209 2 Claims. (Cl. 34159) This invention relates to improvements in a method and apparatus for producing carbon-coated paper.

In the paper industry, it has been commonplace to continuously apply a carbon coating to one face of a paper web in rapid movement through a printing press or similar machine, by means of applicator rollers supporting the web. The carbon was usually applied to the web in a hot, fluid, sticky condition, after which the web so coated was passed about one or more chilled cylinders to cool and set the carbon deposit as rapidly as possible before the web passed on to another stage of treatment where the web might be printed, slitted, collated or otherwise processed as required.

Due to the fact that the chilled cylinders used for cooling and setting the carbon deposit were necessarily refrigerated to a very low temperature in order to continuously absorb heat from the rapidly advancing hotcoated web, considerable trouble was encountered in the process from time to time, on account of water of condensation collecting on the cylinders and penetratingthe web to induce weakness and stretching of the web. This condition was most troublesome whenever the web-moving machinery was shut down, even momentarily, resulting in excessive condensation appearing upon the chilled cylinders. The coated web in contact with the wet cylinders would invariably absorb some of the condensate, causing weakness in the web at the cylinders, so that as the web-moving machine was again placed in operation the paper would stretch or even disintegrate, thereby to require another shut-down and repair of the web. The labor and waste resulting from such occurrences were often very disturbing and costly, as will be understood.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate the stated difiiculties heretofore experienced as the result of weakening and tearing of the carbon-coated web due to moisture absorption.

Another object is to provide a method of carbon-coating a paper web, whereby the web is presented for subsequent treatment or processing in a most advantageous physical condition to produce a superior product.

A further object is to provide means for attainment of the foregoing objects, which may easily and quickly be incorporated in existing web-handling machinery.

Another object is to minimize the cost of applying a carbon coating to paper webs.

The foregoing and other objects are attained by the means described herein and illustrated upon the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a web conditioner embodying the present invention, and showing in elevation a typical applicator for coating the web with hot carbon composition.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the web conditioner in association with an air conditioning apparatus.

The numeral 20 denotes generally a cabinet or upright hollow case within which a paper web W is moved rapidly in serpentine fashion, and therein treated with a refrigerated dry gas such as air, to cool and dry the hot carbon coating 46 of the Web applied by the applicator roll 48. The applicator roll 48 and the back-up roll 50, as well as the transfer roll 52 and the carbon feed roll 54, will usually be kept in heated condition continuously,

for effectively depositing a hot carbon composition material 56 continuously upon one face of the web as the web moves rapidly through the processing machine. The carbon composition supply tank or well 58 may be kept charged by means of a suitable pump drawing from a source of supply, not shown.

The cabinet of unit 20 may include front and rear walls 62 and 64, top and bottom walls 66 and 68, and opposed side Walls 70, all of which may be of insulation material or, if desired, the walls may be of metal having a cladding or liner of insulating material.

Front wall 62 is provided with elongate slots indicated at 72 and 74, whereby the web W may be fed into and discharged from the cabinet as the web travels contin uously pas-t the carbon applicator. Slots 72 and 74 are made quite long in the horizontal direction, to freely accommodate the full width of the web. The cabinet has arranged therein a series of rollers 76 which support the web for travel in serpentine fashion, and these rollers may be idlers by preference. Exterior idler rolls are indicated at 78 and 80, for guiding and supporting the web.

In one of the end walls 70 of the cabinet are provided a pair of ports 82 and 84, for entry and exhaust of a copious flow of air or other gas treated outside the cabinet to chill and dry the air or gas before introduction into the chamber provided by the cabinet. The treated air or gas may enter the cabinet through port 82, and after circulating about the moving web to cool and set the coating on the web, it may exhaust through the port 84. By means of a conduit 86, the exhausted air or gas may be conveyed to a refrigerating unit 88 which cools and dries the air or gas, and releases it to the cabinet intake port 82 by way of a second conduit 90 interconnecting the chamber of cabinet 64 and the refrigerating unit 88.

The refrigerating unit 88 in communication with cabinet 20 may be constructed essentially as an ordinary highcapacity room air conditioner having the usual evaporator and motor-driven means for circulating air past the evaporator to chill it. The unit may include also, if

desired, any known form of means additional to the evaporator, for extracting moisture from the air gathered in passing through the web-treating device 20*. Unit 88 may include also such accessories as filters, defrosting means and the like, in aid of efiicient performance for the purposes of the invention, as will be understood. It is considered superfluous so far as the present invention is concerned, to include herein a detailed disclosure of the refrigerating unit, which may be a standard wellknown piece of equipment.

The web treating device indicated at 20 should be of limited thickness, as between the walls 62 and 64, to conserve space and facilitate interposition thereof in the line of other units not illustrated, which collectively constitute a printing machine. It is desirable also that the width, or distance between side Walls 7070, be comparable with the width of the entire composite machine, to facilitate installation and conformity therewith. The cabinet may rest upon suitable legs or supports 90 when necessary to provide clearance below for the passage of the web toward and from other units of the machine. Similar legs 92 may be applied to the refrigerating unit 88, if necessary or desirable. As will be understood, the regrigerating unit is preferably ofiset to one side of unit 20.

In accordance with the present invention, the hot carbon coated web is quickly cooled and dried by means of a continuous blast of cool dry air or other gas, which presents no condensation problem such as wa character istic of previous processes and apparata. Consequently, there is eliminated the likelihood of web weakness and disintegration, even under extreme conditions when the machine may be shutdown for extended periods of time.

Furthermore, maintenance costs are elfectively reduced, and high quality and uniformity of product resulting from use of the invention are effectively preserved. Attention is directed to additional advantages hereinbefore noted, as well as others which will become manifest to persons conversant with the art.

It is to be understood that various modifications and changes in the structural details of the apparatus disclosed may be resorted to, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for treating a continuously moving paper web having one surface thereof coated with a hot carbon coating subject to solidification upon cooling, said apparatus comprising a housing having laterally spaced front and rear walls, a pair of spaced side walls, and a top and bottom wall closing said housing, a pair of horizontal slots in the front Wall, one of said slots adjacent the upper end thereof, the other slot adjacent the bottom thereof, said slots accommodating the full width of a paper web, four rotatable web-supporting rollers within said housing, two being disposed in the lower portion and two in the upper portion thereof, means adjacent the lower slot for directing the web, with the coated surface downwardly, through said slot in a substantially horizontal direction toward the rear Wall of the housing under and with its uneoated surface against the periphery of a first roller in the lower portion of the housing, thence upwardly in spaced relationship with the rearwall over and with its uncoated surface against the periphery of a second roller in the upper portion of the housing, thence downwardly under and with the coated surface against the periphery of a third roller in the lower portion of the housing, thence upwardly in spaced relationship with the front wall over and with its uncoated surface against the periphery of a fourth roller in the upper portion of the housing, thence outwardly through the upper slot in said wall for subjecting the web to two vertical passes through the housing before the coated side of theweb' first contacts the periphery of a roller, and means continuously supplying cold, dry air into the upper end of the housing and exhausting air from the lower end thereof.

2. Apparatus for treating a continuously moving paper web having one surface thereof coated with a hot plastic carbon coating subject to solidification upon cooling, said apparatus comprising a housing having laterally spaced front and rear walls, a pair of spaced side Walls, and top and bottom walls closing said housing, a pair of horizontal slots in the front wall, one adjacent the top thereof, the other adjacent the bottom, said slots accommodating the full Width of a paper web in motion, a pair of ports provided in one of said side walls, wherein one of said ports is located at an elevation above the uppermost slot in the front Wall, and wherein the other port is located at an elevation below the lowermost slot in said front wall, means continuously supplying cold, dry air downwardly from said uppermost slot, said means having an outlet connected to the upper of said ports, and an inlet connected to the lower of said ports for receiving exhaust air from said housing, and two pairs of web-supporting rollers within said housing, one pair of said rollers being disposed in the lower portion of said housing, and the other pair of said rollers being disposed in the upper portion of said housing, wherein the first of the rollers of the first or lower pair is disposed opposite and in substantial horizontal alignment with the lower slot of the front wall adjacent but spaced from the rear wall of said housing, the other roller of said pair is located above said first roller and spaced from the front wall of said housing, the first of the rollers comprising the other pair disposed adjacent, opposite and in substantial horizontal alignment with the upper slot in the front wall, with the other roller of said upper pair located above the last mentioned roller and spaced from the rear Wall, said web movable through the interior of the housing while exposed to the cold, dry air circulating downwardly therethrough, with the uncoated side of the web engaging the periphery of the first roller of the lower pair of rollers and the periphery of both rollers of the upper pair.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 273,013 Bedford Feb. 27, 1883 1,476,988 Latta Dec. 11, 1923 1,699,349 Dailey Jan. 15, 1929 2,269,169 Van Derhoef Jan. 6, 1942 2,748,016 Speed et a1. May 29', 1956 

1. APPARATUS FOR TREATING A CONTINUOUSLY MOVING PAPER WEB HAVING ONE SURFACE THEREOF COATED WITH A HOT CARBON COATING SUBJECT TO SOLIDIFICATION UPON COOLING, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING A HOUSING HAVING LATERALLY SPACED FRONT AND REAR WALLS, A PAIR OF SPACED SIDE WALLS, AND A TOP AND BOTTOM WALL CLOSING SAID HOUSING, A PAIR OF HORIZONTAL SLOTS IN THE FRONT WALL, ONE OF SAID SLOTS ADJACENT THE UPPER END THEREOF, THE OTHER SLOT ADJACENT THE BOTTOM THEREOF, SAID SLOTS ACCOMMODATING THE FULL WIDTH OF A PAPER WEB, FOUR ROTATABLE WEB-SUPPORTING ROLLERS WITHIN SAID HOUSING, TWO BEING DISPOSED IN THE LOWER PORTION AND TWO IN THE UPPER PORTION THEREOF, MEANS ADJACENT THE LOWER SLOT FOR DIRECTING THE WEB, WITH THE COATED SURFACE DOWNWARDLY, THROUGH SAID SLOT IN A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL DIRECTION TOWARD THE REAR WALL OF THE HOUSING UNDER AND WITH ITS UNCOATED SURFACE AGAINST THE PERIPHERY OF A FIRST ROLLER IN THE LOWER PORTION OF THE HOUSING, THENCE UPWARDLY IN SPACED RELATIONSHIP WITH THE REARWALL OVER AND WITH ITS UNCOATED SURFACE AGAINST THE PERIPHERY OF A SECOND ROLLER IN THE UPPER PORTION OF THE HOUSING, THENCE DOWNWARDLY UNDER AND WITH THE COATED SURFACE AGAINST THE PERIPHERY OF A THIRD ROLLER IN THE LOWER PORTION OF THE HOUSING, 